chimera (2018)

~commissioned by Yaegy Park

 Works that are meant to be played as an ‘encore piece’ can often go one of two ways: the soft but stunning approach and the brash and agile. When I first was talking about working on this piece, it was difficult to decide which way to go and that it might be interesting to try and accomplish both. Recently my music has dealt a lot with interruption and with different musical ideas flowing simultaneously. This two-pronged approach to the solo encore got me thinking about things that are two or more things at once. The myth of the Chimera came to mind very quickly: a beast of ancient Greek mythology that had the head of a lion at its front, the head of a goat on its back, and the tail of a snake. The creature had attributes of all three animals but existed as a single entity. In this piece, my aim was to present two very different sound worlds and musical ideas that would interrupt one another until eventually coming together in an ending that utilized both parts simultaneously.

- 2018 | New York, NY